One Year Ago:

A dog thief held a knife to a terrified father’s neck and threatened to kill him in front of his teenage children. Three dog thieves were stealing the family’s dogs at 1am when they disturbed the sleeping family. Two younger siblings began shouting to wake up their sleeping father. The family live in a remote shack in an open field near a water canal, in Saigon.

The 60+ year old father got out of bed and ran after the dog thief. The father and two sons were running and yelling as they overpowered the dog thief, who screamed for his two accomplices to help him get escape. Vision was difficult with no street lights and only dim lighting available.

Two accomplice dog thieves arrived with knives, guns and ropes to help free their friend. They grabbed the father by his neck and held a knife to his throat, threatening to kill him. They began to beat the father mercilessly then dragged him off with them. The man’s two teenage sons were paralyzed with fear, but one of his daughters arrived and hit the dog thieves with a tree branch. So the dog thieves shot one of the sons, repeatedly in the stomach. By now at the scene was the father and mother, two older sons (16 and 18 years old) and five younger siblings (girls and boys); plus the three dog thieves.

The terrified daughters screamed so loud that people in other shacks woke up and came to see what was happening. As people began arriving two of the dog thieves fled leaving their motorbikes, knife, gun and a bag of ammunition. The two dog thieves jumped into the canal to escape being caught. One dog thief got out of the water. The other one did not surface. (The third dog thief was overpowered and held by the people.) The family were scared the dog thieves would return to get revenge so they called for police help.

Police arrived and questioned everyone. They inspected the dog thieves belongings left behind when they fled. Police divers were called in and retrieved the drowned man’s body from the canal. Police arrested the husband, wife and two sons. The next day the wife was released to collect her husband’s urgently needed medicine for his heart disease and insulin dependent diabetes.

Five young children have lost both parents and two older brothers. A mentally disabled aunt lives with the family but is unable to care for herself or the young children left behind. Prior to the dog thieves waking the family up at 1am, each family member was asleep in their bed, inside the family shack.

Today:

Today the elderly father was sentenced to 16 YEARS in prison for killing a dog thief who viciously attempted to murder him and his family, after killing and stealing his pet dogs.

Three dog thieves used electric guns, knives and tasers against the family. The father was severely beaten in front of his children, then violently dragged. Two of the three dog thieves jumped into a canal in Binh Chanh District. One dog thief did not surface. Police later located his drowned body.

The two surviving dog thieves told police ‘they‘ were the victims and their accomplice was deliberately drowned by the father.

Its alleged before the dog thief drowned that he swam across the canal to escape. However more local angry residents were waiting for him, to prevent him escaping before police arrived. Its alleged the elderly father repeatedly hit that particular dog thief on the head with a bamboo stick, to prevent him getting out of the water.

Its alleged the blows to the head by the severely injured and terrified elderly father caused the dog thief to drown.

In court the father admitted hitting the dog thief but denied trying to kill him.

There are no animal protection laws in Vietnam. Dog thieves only receive a slap on the wrist when caught with local “grass dogs”, aka mutts. A dog has to be valued over $100 USD and the owner must have written proof of the dog’s value and written proof of ownership. Most local pet owners dogs are way under the thresh hold of $100 USD. Neither do they have written proof of ownership or value of their pet. Most dogs stolen by dog thieves are people’s pets. There are no dog farms in Vietnam.

Our original post here on our website, from September 2021:

Fight Dog Meat will continue to bring you reports from dog and cat meat countries and the wonderful work their rescuers are doing despite no animal protection laws. Turning away or sitting quietly does not end the trade. We’ll keep exposing what is taking place to these animals. We’re helping local volunteers have a louder voice on a world platform. Ultimately it’s the voice of the country’s own people whom their government will eventually be forced to listen to, for positive change for animals.

Thank you for reading,

Michele Brown
Founder,
Fight Dog Meat.